Presenters
See below for details of our wonderful line-up of speakers for International Journalism Week 2024
Prof Briony Birdi
IJW2024 Opening Remarks
Briony Birdi is a Professor of Library and Information Science and Head of the Information School and the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Sheffield. Her research and teaching explore the social, political and educational roles of public and youth libraries, with a particular focus on social justice and diversity. Until 2023 she was Director of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion for the faculty of Social Sciences, a senior leadership role in the areas of race equality, gender equality, disability equality and wellbeing. Briony has also served on national and international committees in relation to reading, literacy and social justice, and continues to be consulted on public library policy and practice, reading and diversity for regional, national and international academic and professional organisations.
Panel Discussion
Covering elections in UK, US and France
Panellists:
Matthew McGregor
Matthew is the CEO of the campaigning organisation, 38 Degrees. He is a campaigner for social justice and progressive causes, including for trade unions, trade justice campaigns, for the UK’s leading antifascist group, and for centre-left political parties and candidates in several countries. In 2012, Matthew was the Director of Digital Rapid Response, based in Chicago, working on Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. In addition to campaigning work, Matthew is an avid support of Norwich City, and of the Washington Nationals, writing and recording on football and baseball regularly. He lives in north-west England with his family.
Dominic Penna
Dominic Penna is a political correspondent at The Telegraph who covers the day's biggest political stories in print and online while also finding agenda-setting exclusives, covering on-diary events and covering the politics live blog. Dominic also writes The Telegraph's Politics Newsletter, which is read by tens of thousands of people every weekday and mixes original content with analysis and a digest of the day's political news. It was shortlisted for a Publisher Newsletter Award in 2024. He studied international relations and politics and then journalism at the University of Sheffield.
Oksana Vozhdaeva
Oksana Vozhdaeva is a seasoned journalist and TV-presenter with more than 20-years in the field. Nearly half of it she spent at the BBC World Service reporting main international news for the Russian-speaking audiences and stories from Former Soviet Union space for the English-speaking world audience. She worked as a correspondent and field producer in conflict zones, such as Ukraine, and covered several electoral campaigns in Russia, Georgia and the US. Oksana’s team broadcasted from Washington during the first Trump elections in 2016. Currently she's changed her career to psychology and consults media and freelance journalists working in conflict zones.
BBC High Risk and News Safety team (HRNS)
Living and working in a hostile environment: A BBC Approach to Journalism Safety
A member of the BBC High Risk and News Safety team (HRNS). The BBC High Risk team provides specialist safety and security advice and support to all areas of the BBC work globally.
Maksym Balaklytskyi
Journalism Principles at Risk in the Russo-Ukrainian War
Maksym Balaklytskyi holds a PhD in Ukrainian Literature (2003) and is a Doctor of Sciences in Social Communications (2014) received from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine. He had internships in the UK (Cambridge University), Germany, and Poland. He started his career in media as a production team member of a news and opinion TV weekly, he made video reports from the Ukrainian Parliament and served as a News Editor at the Hope Media Group, Ukraine. In 2004-2022 Maksym worked as a Professor of the Journalism Department at V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University, the leading university in Ukraine. He also was a visiting lecturer at Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa, Poland. He is a member of editorial boards of three academic journals in Ukraine – The Journal of V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. Series: Social Communications; Bulletin of Lviv Polytechnic National University: Journalism; Ukrainian Information Space. Maksym has written 4 books, 2 textbooks, and multiple academic articles.
Sergiy Tomilenko
Safeguarding Truth on the Frontlines: Protecting Journalists and Preserving Local Media in War-Torn Ukraine
Sergiy Tomilenko is the President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), an independent organization supporting media workers. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists and serves on several national councils for press freedom. Tomilenko has extensive experience in international projects protecting freedom of speech and journalists’ rights, collaborating with UNESCO, RSF, and other global organizations. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he led NUJU in establishing a network of Journalist Solidarity Centres, creating “safe places for journalists”; across the country. Under his guidance, NUJU has become crucial in coordinating support for journalists in conflict zones, providing safety training, and advocating for press freedom. Tomilenko’s work has been instrumental in mobilizing international support for Ukrainian journalists facing unprecedented challenges. He regularly contributes to global discussions on press freedom, sharing insights from Ukraine’s experience to shape strategies for protecting journalists
Panel Discussion
Covering Africa in times of global unrest
Moderator:
Dr Dani Madrid Morales
Dani is a Lecturer in Journalism & Global Communication at the University of Sheffield’s department of Journalism, Media and Communication. Prior to joining The University of Sheffield, he was an Assistant Professor in Journalism at the Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston (2018-2022), and a Hong Kong PhD Fellow in the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong (2013-2018). Before starting his academic career, Dani worked as a journalist for 15 years in his hometown, Barcelona. Dani is an active member of the International Communication Association’s Global Communication and Social Change Division, where he served as Secretary from 2020 to 2022. He is also a member of the editorial board of the academic journal, African Journalism Studies and the Annals of the International Communication Association. At the School of Journalism, Media and Communication, Dani also serves as Director of Postgraduate Research and is the Co-Lead of the Disinformation Research Cluster.
Panellists:
Amir Aman Kiyaro
Amir Aman Kiyaro is an award-winning journalist with experience covering conflict and political developments in Ethiopia. For over three years, he has worked with the Associated Press, where his reporting on the war and conflicts in the country has garnered recognition, including the AP Gramling Award for outstanding journalism in 2021 and 2022. Despite facing challenges, including imprisonment, he remains dedicated to advocating for press freedom and fostering solidarity among Ethiopian journalists, irrespective of their political or ethnic backgrounds. Recently a guest of the Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People, Amir continues his commitment to these vital issues from Hamburg, Germany.
Muthoki Mumo
Muthoki Mumo is the Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international organisation that champions press freedom worldwide. She has worked with CPJ since 2017, previously serving as the East Africa Correspondent and the sub-Saharan Africa Representative. She previously worked as a reporter with the Nation Media Group. Mumo has a bachelor’s degree from the United States International University in Nairobi and a master’s degree jointly awarded by Aarhus University and the University of Hamburg.
Alexis Akwagyiram
Alexis Akwagyiram is the managing editor of Semafor Africa, a digital publication focused on the continent and its diaspora. He was part of the team that launched Semafor, a U.S. headquartered media company, in 2022. He joined Semafor from the Financial Times where he shaped the newspaper's Covid-19 pandemic coverage as its health and science editor and oversaw innovative storytelling projects as the digital editor. Alexis also wrote and edited stories about African business, economics and politics at the paper. Prior to the FT, Alexis was the Reuters bureau chief in Nigeria. Based in Lagos for six years, he led a multimedia team focused on the business and political environment in one of Africa's biggest economies. Alexis was a BBC journalist for a decade before joining Reuters. Alexis began his career in Britain's newspaper industry with stints at London's Evening Standard and The Guardian.
Prof Jackie Harrison
Keynote Address by the UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity
Jackie is a Professor of Public Communication, UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity and has been chair of the interdisciplinary research institute Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) since 2008. She joined the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (formerly, Journalism Studies) as a lecturer in September 1996 and was appointed Professor of Public Communication in January 2005. As UNESCO Chair on Media Freedom, Journalism Safety and the Issue of Impunity, Jackie actively promotes in-depth collaborative academic research with centres of expertise, media and NGOs, governments and international bodies on issues of journalism safety, media freedom, freedom of expression, media capture and the effectiveness of the media as a civil institution. Jackie is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has worked with the UK government’s Multilateral Policy Directorate, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to mention a few.
Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) Panel
Journalism in times of global unrest
Moderator:
William Horsley
William Horsley is the co-founder and international director of CFOM, the Centre for Freedom of the Media, at the University of Sheffield. His forceful advocacy work has brought innovations and reforms that strengthen legal standards, government policies and international actions to protect journalists at risk because of their work. For many years he reported as a foreign correspondent for BBC TV and Radio News from places across Europe and Asia; and presented current affairs programmes including Europe Direct for BBC Global News. He is currently the UK Chairman of the Association of European Journalists and a member of the UK Advisory Board of RSF, Reporters Without Borders. He played an active part in the launch in 2015 of the online Safety of Journalists Platform www.coe.int/fom , a model Europe-wide system of verified alerts against attacks on journalists and media organisations. As well as the CFOM International Director’s Blog on www.cfom.org he publishes articles and books concerning issues of media and the rule of law.
Panellists:
Prof Chris Paterson
Subtopic: Weakening of the global legal order to protect journalists in the age of unrest
Chris Paterson leads the MA in International Communication at the University of Leeds, and writes about international journalism, the safety of journalists, the image of Africa, and the communication of climate change. In Ghana and Kenya, he leads the Global Challenges Research Fund project “Gender and Information in Climate Change Adaptation”. Other research focusses on the processes of mediation which enable continuing imperialism in Africa. He has written books about news agencies (The International Television News Agencies, Peter Lang) and war reporting (War Reporters Under Threat, Pluto Press), and co-edited “Africa’s Media Image” and seven other anthologies. He is a member of the International Council of the International Association of Media and Communications Research (IAMCR), and immediate past chair of the International Communication Association’s (ICA) Global Communication and Social Change division. He has taught in the US, UK, and Finland.
Fiona O'Brien
Subtopic: The rise of transnational threats and attacks on journalists by authoritarian governments
Fiona O’Brien is the UK Director of Reporters Without Borders, an international NGO working for the freedom, pluralism and independence of the press. She was previously a foreign correspondent in Africa and the Middle East and course director of the MA in Journalism at Kingston University.
Howard Zhang
Subtopic: Reporting today’s China: Practical realities and editorial decision-making
Howard Zhang is a seasoned journalist and media commentator specialising in Chinese media, contemporary history and politics. Born in Mao era China, grew up in early reform years of Deng, he left China in the aftermath of 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. He lived and studied in Canada in the 1990s and moved to London in 2000 and worked for the BBC World Service for nearly 24 years. He was head of BBC News Chinese from 2016 to 2023.
Special charge & presentation of students’ competitions awards
Prof Graham Gee
Professor Graham Gee is the Faculty Director of Education (Social Sciences). Graham joined Sheffield as professor of public law in September 2015 after seven years at the University of Birmingham. Much of his teaching and research focus on the UK’s changing constitution, with some of his research examining changes to the governance, leadership and appointment of the judiciary in England and Wales. His work has been cited by, amongst others, multiple Lord Chief Justices, the President, Deputy President and several Justices of the UK Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of Canada, former Lord Chancellors, the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Appointments Commission and the House of Lords Constitution Committee. In 2016, he sat on the panel that recommended candidates for selection as the UK judge on the European Court of Human Rights. Before my academic career, he qualified as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. At the University of Sheffield, he has served as Head of the School of Law
Leo Appleton
Leo Appleton is the Director of Education for the Information School, and the Journalism, Media and Communications Department at the University of Sheffield. After completing a degree in Information and Library Management at the University of Northumbria, Leo commenced a career in librarianship and have held management and leadership positions in several university libraries, as well as in Further Education colleges and NHS Hospital trusts. Since 2008, he has worked in senior library management posts at Liverpool John Moores University, University of the Arts, London and most recently was the Director of Library Services at Goldsmiths, University of London. He joined the Information School as a Senior University Teacher in June 2020. He has a Master’s degrees in both music and education as well as a PhD in Library and Information Science from Edinburgh Napier University. Leo is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP).